URI committee reviews affirmative action plan after federal order revocation; underrepresentation persists

The University of Rhode Island's Institutional Risk and Compliance Committee on Feb. 4 reviewed the university's state affirmative action plan and discussed implications from the Jan. 22, 2025 revocation of Executive Order 11246, while university officials emphasized that statutory obligations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) remain in force.

"We are considered a federal contractor and we are responsible for creating an annual affirmative action plan, federal affirmative action plan and certifying compliance in the OFCCP portal every April," said Dorka Smalley, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, during the committee presentation.

The discussion matters because URI receives substantial federal funds (research administration records cited $123,000,000 in grant awards in fiscal year 2021, 71% federal), which triggers federal compliance obligations across institutional operations under the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987. With EO 11246 revoked, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has signaled changes in how it will apply prior guidance; Smalley told the committee the Office of Equal Opportunity is awaiting OFCCP guidance on how to meet compliance requirements going forward, while continuing to comply with statutory duties under Section 503 and VEVRAA.

Committee members were given a data snapshot for the reporting period that ended June 30, 2023. URI reported 2,750 faculty and staff: 15.05% identified as minorities and 84.04% as white; 42.07% male and 57.87% female; 1.56% identified as disabled and 1.85% as veterans. Smalley noted a small number of employees did not report race/ethnicity data and that is why percentages did not sum to 100%.

Smaller differences appeared between applicant pools and hires for fiscal year 2023: minorities made up 18.59% of applicants and 16.26% of new hires; people identifying as disabled represented 3.89% of applicants but about 0.81% of new hires; veterans represented 1.14% of applicants and 0.54% of new hires. The office's underutilization analysis comparing URI to the Rhode Island and U.S. labor forces showed minorities, people with disabilities and veterans were underrepresented in URI's workforce, while white employees and female employees were overrepresented relative to the labor-force benchmarks Smalley presented.

Smalley summarized actions already in place to address recruitment and compliance: a new employee recruitment, selection and hiring policy that became effective July 1; a civil-rights compliance toolkit for recruitment and selection; two training modules for search committees and hiring authorities (civil-rights compliance/anti-discrimination and talent acquisition); continued mandatory prevention-of-harassment training for new hires; an updated affirmative action compliance website; language-access resources; and annual public reporting of complaints handled by the Office of Equal Opportunity.

Abby Benson, who introduced the item for the committee, asked presenters to keep future slide decks focused on key takeaways and actions. Committee members did not take formal action on the affirmative action plan during the open session.

Ending: Committee materials and the state-submitted affirmative action plan for the fiscal year 2023 reporting period were signed by the Rhode Island Department of Administration, Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and are to be posted to the Office of Equal Opportunity's affirmative action website, officials said. The committee moved on to other agenda items including research compliance and audits.